Inside pics

Jennifer took some pics of the recent progress...

Here's looking into the bathroom. Walls are just about done (covered in FRP). Access panel by the window is for the rear view camera and antenna.

Lower access will be under the sink cabinet, for the cable connections and power.



Other side of the bathroom. Tub drain plumbing is all set. Haven't fastened the tub in - the outside shower goes under the seat.

The original skirt (in pretty bad shape) has a door to access the tub plumbing. The outside shower box is new and the toilet will block access even if I had a door. Been contemplating how to solve that and came up with a decent idea - the shower box insert into its frame goes in from the outside. It's held in place by tabs that snap and have to be released from inside. If I grind off the snap tabs and drill holes for stainless screws, then I can make the shower box removable from outside. I'll use stainless braided hoses under the tub that attach somewhere accessible.

(The frame is for the overhead vent)

Here's a view looking forward. The overhead cabinet/bunk is in up front. The two upper cabinets are mostly in (I need some more screws to wrap it up). Other cabinets are just in place for measuring but aren't fastened. I need to finish up the front wall so I can fit everything in place - some of the cabinets will need trimming.

Refrigerator cabinet is finally up and the fridge is off the floor and out of my way. Area below fridge was used for microwave by previous owners (they took out the furnace) but I need it for the furnace. Wish I had it installed already - it sure got cold yesterday.

No pics this weekend either.

Got the bumper and the tongue primed and painted. Mixed up flat and gloss black rustoleum and ended up with a satin finish. Looks pretty good - its too late in the season to fuss over it too much.

Got the rest of the ceiling installed.

Put in the final vent over the bathroom - this one has a fan.

Jennifer insulated the back wall and the little wall between the doorway and the back.

I managed to get the side wall of the shower up and covered with FRP. The upper and lower halves of the back wall are luan to be FRP'd shortly. Also started fitting the wet wall for eventual luan/FRP.

New tub isn't exactly the same as the old. I'll have to cut off and extend the drain to get it to come in right under the tub drain.

Originally, I was going to redo all the plumbing. It's the silver/grey stuff that has fallen out of use because the chlorine in city water deteriorates it from the inside out.

Anyhow, I can do that later, and just reusing all that's good will save me a bunch of time. I'll need some new lines for the shower box, but otherwise, most of the old stuff should work.

Going to try to wrap up enough of the bathroom that I can install the closet for the fridge and furnace - I may need the furnace installed soon with the cold weather we've been having.

The steps I installed last week have been somewhat disappointing. The tabs that hold the retaining bolt for the higher step are bending and letting the step droop. The lower step's retaining tabs were never right and now it droops even more. I'm going to have to reengineer some of it, which will likely require a little welding after I remove it. PITA.

No pics today

Didn't take any pictures this weekend.

This was potentially the last decent weekend weatherwise. Tried to wrap up the outside as much as possible.

Received the white paint and finished off the roof with a second coat.

Got the new stairs and installed them. They angle just a bit away from the camper - I think I'm going to have to shim up the back at some point. I added two 2x2 angle brackets on either side so there are 12 mount screws instead of six and have 1 1/2 stainless lag screws into the solid wood deck I put in that area. I reinforced the entire outer edge of the camper with aluminum angle. The stair flange just fits between the outside of the frame and the outside of the box - I think the flange is causing the angled appearance. No biggie - it holds the lag screws in really well!

Found out after installing them, and then reading the instructions, that the stair capacity is 200lbs. Looks like I'm not allowed on the stairs.

Managed to cut off the landing gear in back, which were pretty useless and bent up - with the additional height, I don't think I'll need them, plus they were made too long by the higher stance of the new axle/springs.

Cleaned up the front tongue, primed and painted it with one coat of white. I don't like the white.

Big thing was cut off the old rusted out bumper and welded on a new one after reinforcing the supports. My flux mig doesn't make pretty welds most of the time. It's solid though now. Got a coat of primer on it. Wow, what a lot of work that was. Went through a whole spool of welding wire and I was covered in dirt.

I think I'm going to end up painting the bumper and tongue black. I was going to do white since it's more original and can be seen easier in dim light, but I think the black looks better, and more contemporary, and I'll just get some reflective tape on, which will be better in the long run anyhow for visibility.

Also managed to get the second vent (of three) installed in the roof last night. Broke the only two saw blades I had for the saw and had to do most of the cut by hand. I'm pretty sore, but I had it in just as it was getting dark (8pm). If I hadn't broken the saw blades, I'd have had both installed.

Couldn't sleep this morning - got up about 4am. Cleaned up the garage and the inside of the trailer in preparation for finishing the celing and starting on the bathroom. Also put rebuilt cargo doors together. One's going to need a few screws to hold it on well, and I'll probably run a thin line of caulk along the aluminum channel interface. The frames need to be cleaned up (last thing with goop) and the hole has to be cut in the back for one of them. When I do that, I'll also install the outside shower box. Still have to drill the rebuilt doors for the locksets.

Got a full set of new cam locks - all with the same key. That will be nice. Between the two cargo doors, the shower box door, and the electrical box door, there are 5 outside locks. I bought six so I have a spare.

Supposed to rain pretty much every day for the next week. I'll be concentrating on the inside unless I get a break in the weather. Once most of the bathroom is in, the rest should flow pretty quickly...

Don't have too many more things to purchase, thankfully. All that's left on my list for major expenses are:

Two deep cycle batteries (Tractor Supply has good prices)
Two new propane tanks
New propane regulator
Counter Tops or laminate (two kitchen counters, bathroom counter, dinette table). The sink counter is easy. The stove counter has a cutout - I'll either build one from scratch, or piece it and build the cut out from scratch. I think I can just cover the table and bathroom counters with laminate.
Tow mirrors for the truck
Get the trailer title transferred, weigh it, inspected, and get plates
Shocks? Was planning on getting these. I may hold off and see how it tows first. Easy to add later.

Should be only a week or two and I'll be able to take it out on the road.

Before & After

Wheels and lights

Painted wheels and put them on.



Also finished taillights and finished wiring clearance lights.

Inside and Outside

Made some progress since last posting.

In the meantime, the transmission of the truck died and I had to take a detour from the camper to rebuild it.

Fall is here and I'm running out of season - we still hope to take the TT out before it gets too cold.

3/4 of the ceiling is in. I thought I took pics, but I guess I didn't. It's exterior luan covered in white FRP panel. Ceiling area rewired. New lights ready to install. I'll snap some pics when I get back inside.

Outside - painted most of the roof - I noticed black streaking was starting and deduced it was the bare aluminum. Got 80% covered with white before I ran out of paint. Have to get more and finish it up. Wasn't sure I'd have another nice weekend w/o rain so I taped out the stripes this morning - a lot of the exterior items are waiting on the stripe painting. Also installed the water heater, electric hatch, and the two water hatches - not hooked up inside yet, but sealed to the out.

Here is a pic of it taped up. Had we known how nice it would look with lime green accents, I'd have ordered lime green paint.

Here she is all painted with the tape removed. There are some areas with some edge bleeding - especially the entry door, that I'll have to touch up. Probably next year.

On the sides and back, the double stripes come together where a corner or tail light gets installed.

Front

Side - looks like rain's coming...

Flashback

Jennifer found some pics of shortly after we obtained the camper that show some of the damage.



This shows the original wheels/tires and some of the rot up front.


Whatever the question, caulk seemed to be the answer. Note the hole where the awning support attached. This was likely one of the main water entry points as water runs off the awning gutter and right over the bracket mount.


Hard to tell, but this is the lower front looking inside. Note that all the wood rotted away under the aluminum skin.

Pulling the contact paper ended up pulling down part of the ceiling...

Here you can see a lot of the rot. Most of the existing lateral studs ended up being rotted in the corners. Everything from just above the window down was replaced as well as the corner pieces and some of the lower side pieces (plus the whole floor)

Ditto

On this you can somewhat see the floor and pan damage. Front aluminum skin did not match the rest of the coach - so someone knew about the leak and either ignored it or made it worse.

Little reorganizing

As you can imagine, the garage is getting a bit cluttered with the whole interior of the trailer stored in there, plus all the appliances, tires, tools, building materials, and now, transmission rebuilding space.

Last night I did some cleaning/organizing. Moved things I won't need for a long time into the basement, organized the rest in order of need. Decided I'd move the lower cabinets into the trailer for storage. The refrigerator is next.

This helps me visualize how things fit together, and gets them out of my work area.

Front LH side. This cabinet is sort of a headboard when the dinette turns into a bed.


Inside of the cabinet that holds the stove:


Sink cabinet. This one has the most damage.

Oops. I guess that's my thumb. This is the other side of the stove cabinet with the smaller sub-cabinet inset for clearance to the dinette booth.

View towards the front.

Ditto:

Sink cabinet. Refrigerator/furnace cabinet goes to the left.

Stove cabinet:

Another view towards the front.

All the panelling was water damaged on the front panel. Based on where the cabinets fit, I'm hoping to scavange panelling from behind them to cover the front and any other exposed damaged areas. Hopefully, I'll have enough.

Update - Floor is done

Took a few days off to work on the camper and the truck. Of course, it rained half the time.
However, the floor is now in.

Here's the luan plywood halfway down on top of the subfloor


I know I took more pics, of the work in progress, but I can't seem to find them.

Anyhow, here's the finished floor with Dupont Sedona vinyl

Pattern detail:

Pattern is purposely not geometric. I'm not sure how square I can get everything put back in. No point in highlighting that. Plus, most of the "squares" that made up patterns were so large, they would look silly in a small space like this.

Some recent pics

I don't have a lot of time to write this morning, but I'll throw up some pics and will try to comment later

Windows all in. Repaired front awning attached. Running lights installed.

White square towards the bottom front is for the cargo door. I have the door part rebuilt from scratch and need to mount it in its frame and clean up the flange.

Took the wheels off for access - you can't see it, but the "body" is now securely bolted to the chassis for the first time since we bought it.

Also, the wheel wells are coated with truck bed liner for undercoating after being sealed against the frame and body where necessary. Left the wheels off as I want to do one more check of the brake/bearing adjustment.

Still have three running lights to install out back.

Just won an ebay auction - miraculously found the exact tail light needed to replace the broken one - correct side with the clear window for lighting the license plate. Now I don't have to try and retrofit another, or patch the old one.

You can see the sloped part of the rear camper where the tail lights attach (hole covered with metal foil tape). We have a plastic "wedge" that goes behind the actual tail light that matches the tail light profile (an elipse with the sides cut off) There is only one new tail light available that I found that has wedge adapters to bring the light surface vertical and it is rectangular. We may have to go with them down the road if we break one of our lenses as ours aren't made anymore and they're near impossible to find. I found references on the web to people searching for them in vain going back to 2001. Luckily, the ebay seller didn't list the right part number off the light in the auction, or more people might have found it and bid.

Large white squqre in front of the wheel well is where the water heater goes. Our old one (propane only with pilot) had a pinhole leak in the tank that I didn't notice until I was reassembling it after completely rebuilding it (cleaning, paint, new fittings, etc.). Got a decent deal on a new combination gas/electric with direct spark ignition. Just flick a switch and choose which method of heating.

Best of both worlds and safer.

Between that and the new furnace with DSI, the only pilot will be in the stove/oven and the fridge (which has the burner outside the coach and has a p/e igniter). Piezo-electric igniters for the stove are very inexpensive. Oven is going to have to stay with a pilot, unfortunately. May put in a p/e ignitor so we don't have to keep matches around and risk dropping one on the new floor and melting it.

The big piece of pink insulation and metal door behind it are what I use to cover the entry door, under the tarp, when I expect rain.

Interior shots.

As of this writing, I have the floor covered with exterior luan plywood underlayment in preparation for the vinyl floor. Here are some shots of that work in progress.

Front of trailer is to the right. Brown boxes on floor are wheel wells. Jennifer cut the insulation for the front wall and installed it.

Plywood (coated with spar varnish) floor is on right. New luan subfloor fitted on left.




Shot from the front back.

The black tank vent is on the left, next to the pliers. Pink blocks of insulation hold up the drain for the bath sink and shower (shower trap is sunken into the floor). Where it elbows between the shower drain and the wheel well is where it drops into the grey tank.

Hole in the floor is for the toilet. I'm adding a 1 1/2 inch offset flange and raising it up about 4", which should give me more room in the very cramped bath and still let the toilet clear the drain line that runs behind it. I would also like to run a duct along the drain line to heat the back of the trailer and the bath as the new furnace is set up for ducted operation.

First weekend in August already

This coming weekend is already August. Hard to believe it with the cool summer weather and near constant rain.





Been prepping the inside of the trailer for installing the floor. I needed to do some repairs to the holding tank flanges. I broke the one where the vent attaches on the black tank. The toilet flange had come off the tank about half way around where the solvent had let loose, and the grey water inlet had cracked the tank about 1/3 of the way around because I let the long pipe going to the sink drop and it stressed the joint.





Ended up buying one of these plastic welders at Harbor Freight:





It works by heating a stream of compressed air. It's not exactly like welding - it's more like pushing soft pieces of plastic together, but it works. Not sure if the repair is watertight, so I'll coat it with a sealant, but mechanically, it's better than the original tank surface.

I have some (poorly repaired by the previous owners) cracks on the bottoms of the black and grey tank that I hope to repair to watertight condition, but that can wait...


Anyhow, the tanks are repaired, and the wood pieces that go over them are marked for cutting. I'll cut them tonight, seal the repairs, put in some foam insulation, and screw down the panels into the floor.

Then I'll put down some 5.2mm exterior luan, and glue down some vinyl sheet flooring we picked out at Home Depot.


Then I can put the fridge in, which will let me put the door on, which will let me do some leak testing. Whoo Hoo!

Progress

Didn't snap any pics. However, I made a lot of progress over the weekend...

All the windows are now installed. Awning over the front window is installed. Refrigerator access door and frame are on.

Also installed 5 new running lights along the front leading edge. Started on the back and have two done and two started out of the five.

Almost to the point where I can rotate the tarp, eposing the front and back, but allowing me to set it up like a canopy over the entry door, so I can leave it up, but still get in.

The refrigerator will only fit through the entry door with the frame off, so I can't put the door on until the refrigerator is inside.

I don't want to put the refrigerator (or anything else) inside until I have the floor down as I want the floor to be one seamless piece of vinyl flooring.

Old Pics

I guess I forgot to put up the pics of when we first got it...


Outside (tongue was painted black after this pic was taken by the dealer)






Inside: